Command and Control of Devices and Applications by Voice Using a Communication Base System

ABSTRACT

A first communication path for receiving a communication is established. The communication includes speech, which is processed. A speech pattern is identified as including a voice-command. A portion of the speech pattern is determined as including the voice-command. That portion of the speech pattern is separated from the speech pattern and compared with a second speech pattern. If the two speech patterns match or resemble each other, the portion of the speech pattern is accepted as the voice-command. An operation corresponding to the voice-command is determined and performed. The operation may perform an operation on a remote device, forward the voice-command to a remote device, or notify a user. The operation may create a second communication path that may allow a headset to join in a communication between another headset and a communication device, several headsets to communicate with each other, or a headset to communicate with several communication devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from the following co-pending U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/003,519 filed on Nov. 16, 2007.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The principles of the present invention relate generally to an improvedcommunication system, and in particular, to an improved system andmethod for interaction with several systems and telecommunicationdevices. Still more particularly, the principles of the presentinvention relate to a communication base system and method for commandand control of devices and applications by voice using the communicationbase system.

2. Description of the Related Art

A communication device is a device that may place or receive atelecommunication. The term “communication devices” refers to thecollection of all devices usable for telecommunication. For example, acommunication device can be the familiar telephone, a computer with atelecommunication enabling software application, which are commonlyknown as softphones, a telephone-like device that works over datanetworks instead of a plain old telephone system (POTS) line, a wirelessor cellular phone, or any other device used for telecommunication. Acommunication device is any one of these communication devices.Communication devices may also include devices and applications capableof communicating in other ways, for example, by text messaging, instantmessaging including text, audio, video, images, and documents.Communication devices may further include radio transceivers embedded inappliances, computers, as well as automobiles.

Presently, wearable devices are available that a user can use forinteracting with a variety of systems and devices. Some examples of suchwearable devices are wired and wireless headsets that include at least aspeaker and a microphone. A user may connect these headsets to a deviceusing wires or a wireless protocol, such as Bluetooth, in order tointeract with that device. The user can wear the headset and engage invoice telecommunication when the headset is connected with acommunication device. The user may also couple the headset with acomputer and engage in a voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP)telecommunication using a softphone software application.

As some more examples, a user may use a headset to interact with agaming console, such as Xbox® manufactured by Microsoft® Corporation, orPlayStation® manufactured by Sony® Corporation. A user may use a headsetfor dictating a document to speech-to-text software. Wearable headsetsintegrating a microphone and a speaker are presently used for a varietyof activities with a variety of devices.

However, headsets and other devices for similar purposes are presentlyable to interact with one system or device at a time. The interactionwith one device may be over a wired or wireless connection. In oneexample, when using a Bluetooth headset with a first device, such as alandline phone, the user has to disassociate (e.g., disconnect) theheadset from a second device, such as a mobile phone, and associate theheadset with the first device. Of course, the headset would need to bepre-registered with each device before associating the headset witheither device.

SUMMARY

In order to enable several devices, such as headsets, to communicatewith several communication devices over a range of types of networkssimultaneously, the illustrative embodiments provide a method, computerusable program product, and system for command and control of devicesand applications by voice using a communication base system. A firstcommunication path for receiving a communication is established. Thecommunication includes speech. The speech is processed. A speech patternis identified as including a voice-command. A portion of the speechpattern is determined as including the voice-command. That portion ofthe speech pattern is separated from the speech pattern and comparedwith a second speech pattern. If the two speech patterns match orresemble each other, the portion of the speech pattern is accepted asthe voice-command. An operation corresponding to the voice-command isdetermined and performed.

The voice-command may be received during the communication as a part ofthe speech. Performing the operation may be performing the operation ona remote device or establishing a second communication path between afirst device that sends the voice-command and second device.

The second communication path may allow a headset to join in acommunication between another headset and a communication device, aplurality of headsets to communicate with each other, a headset tocommunicate with a plurality of communication devices, or anycombination thereof. The operation may also forward the voice-command toa remote device or notify a user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the illustrativeembodiments are set forth in the appended claims. The illustrativeembodiments, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, will best beunderstood by reference to the following detailed description of anillustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of components of a base system inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of application components of a basesystem in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of a first type of command processing ina base system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of a second type of command processing ina base system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of a third type of command processing ina base system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of a fourth type of command processing ina base system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment; and

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart of a process of processing voice-commands inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A communication base system, or simply a “base system”, as described inthe co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/985,766 (Attorney docketnumber 024777.0406PTUS), entitled Communication Base System and Methodof Using the Same, filed on Nov. 16, 2007 and which is incorporatedherein in its entirety by reference, may be used for voice-commandsusing the headsets. A voice-command, or a verbal command, is a commandor instruction given to a system using voice or speech.

Illustrative embodiments recognize that a user would like to be able touse a single headset for communicating with more than one device withouthaving to engage in a process of disassociating the headset from aprevious device, and associating the headset with a new device. Theillustrative embodiments further recognize that several users, each witha variation of a headset, may wish to communicate with a commoncommunication device. A user with a headset may wish to engage incommunication with one or more other users with headsets, one or morecommunication devices, or any combination thereof, using a communicationbase system. The user may wish to engage in such communication by havingthe communication base system perform the desired functions throughvoice-commands.

Therefore, a system that is capable of processing voice-commands forallowing one or more headsets to communicate with one or more otherheadsets and communication devices without the user having to perform anassociation and disassociation of the headset with each device may beuseful. Such a system may be further useful by processing voice-commandsfor performing other actions on applications running locally on thesystem or remotely on communication devices. The illustrativeembodiments describe such a system and methods of using that system.

Wired or wireless headsets are just some examples of wearable devicesthat users use for communication purposes. Many devices facilitate auser's communication with a computer or another device in a mannersimilar to that of a headset. For example, a desk-microphone and adesk-speaker may facilitate a user's communication with a computer in amanner similar to the wearable headset. For the clarity of thedescription below, the illustrative embodiments are described withrespect to a headset. However, the headsets are not limiting on theillustrative embodiments, and a particular implementation may use anyother device that may communicate with communication devices, such as aheadset, may communicate with those communication devices.

With reference to FIG. 1, this figure depicts a block diagram ofcomponents of a base system in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment. Base system 100 may include user-side communication andvoice-command interface 102 (interface 102). Interface 102 may be asoftware component, a hardware component, or a combination thereof.Interface 102 may enable communication between base system 100 and oneor more headsets that a user may use for voice communications as well asissuing voice-commands.

Base system 100 may further include network-side command and responseinterface 104 (interface 104). Interface 104 may also be a softwarecomponent, a hardware component, or a combination thereof. Interface 104may enable communication between base system 100 and one or morecommunication devices. A user interfacing with base system 100 usinginterface 102 may be able to send voice-commands to a communicationdevice interfacing with base system 100 via interface 104. Furthermore,base system 100 may communicate a command, whether in the form of avoice-command, a software invocation, a hardware interrupt, or any othersuitable form, to communication devices using interface 104.

Base system 100 may further include processing component 106. Processingcomponent 106 may be a digital signal processing (DSP) component, or anyother type of processing component that is capable of processingvoice-commands. User interface component 108 may allow a user toprogram, configure, access, or otherwise manipulate base system 100.Data storage component 110 may store information used in communicationsbetween headsets and communication devices that base system 100 mayestablish. For example, data storage component 110 may store informationpertaining to configuration and operation of base system 100, interfaceparameters of various headsets and communication devices, instructionsfor processing a set of voice-commands, and any other information thatmay be used in a particular implementation of base system 100.

With reference to FIG. 2, this figure depicts a block diagram ofapplication components of a base system in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Base system 200 may be similar to base system100 in FIG. 1. Base system 200 may communicate with headset 202 as wellas any number of other headsets. Headset 202 may engage in voicecommunication 203 using base system 200, or issue voice-command 204,which may be directed to base system 200 or a communication device, suchas any of communication devices 206, 208, 210, 212, and 214.

Call management component 218 may facilitate voice communication betweena headset and a communication device, such as between headset 204 andcommunication device 206 via base system 200. Local applications 220 maybe one or more applications executing on base system 200. For example, arecording application executing on base system 200 may be a localapplication in local applications 220. Some other examples of localapplications 220 may be logging, screening, displaying, reporting,notifying, configuring, updating, and managing applications.

Command processing 222 may be a processing engine for processingvoice-commands, such as voice-command 204. Command processing 222executing on base system 200 may be able to understand voice-commands. Auser, using headset 202 or another device capable of receiving theuser's voice, may speak a voice-command, such as voice-command 204, thatbase system 200 may be able to recognize by processing the voice-commandusing command processing 220. The user may speak only the voice-command,speak the voice-command with ambient sounds, or speak the voice-commandduring a conversation with another party when the conversation isoccurring through the base system. The base system may receive thevoice-command as a speech pattern and apply processing, such as digitalsignal processing, to the speech to recognize that the speech includes avoice-command.

The base system may be trained to recognize a set of voice-commands froma set of users in those users' voices. A set of voice-commands is one ormore voice-commands. A set of users is one or more users. For example,one or more users may submit their speech patterns for the same ordifferent voice-commands. The users may correlate those voice-commandsat the base system with specific operations they want the base system toexecute when they speak one of those voice-commands. For example, a usermay train the base system to recognize the address word “Base” followedby a command, such as “connect with cell phone.” Another user may trainthe base system to recognize just the command “connect to my cellphone”. Both users may then correlate their respective commands to theoperation of connecting their respective headsets with their respectivecell phones. Many other commands and formats of commands are conceivablebased on the principles described in this disclosure. For example, auser may configure a phrase in a language other than English, apneumonic, or a noun as a voice-command for a specific operation.

In an alternative embodiment, rather than or in addition to thevoice-commands, a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) recognition enginemay operate to recognize and respond to DTMF signals to perform certainfunctions. For example, pressing the number “1” key on a headset oranother device that may include a keypad may send a DTMF signal to thebase system to perform a function. Similarly, pressing the number “2”key may send a DTMF signal to the base system for performing a differentfunction. For example, pressing “1” may cause the base unit to connect acall; pressing “2” may cause the base unit to disconnect a call.

With reference to FIG. 3, this figure depicts a block diagram of a firsttype of command processing in a base system in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Base system 300 may be similar to base system200 in FIG. 2. Headset 302 and 304 may each be a headset similar toheadset 202 in FIG. 2, or a comparable device capable of sending andreceiving voice communications.

A user of headset 302 may be able to interact verbally with a user ofheadset 304 via base system 300. For example, headset 302 may acceptvoice-command 306 from the first user that may instruct base system 300to establish communication path 308 between headset 302 and headset 304.Note that headset 302, headset 304, or both headsets may be engaged incommunications with other communication devices at the time ofvoice-command 306. For example, the first user may be using the headset302 for a telephone conversation with a party. The second user usingheadset 304 may be engaged in a voice interactive game on a gamingconsole. The first user may issue voice-command 306 during the telephoneconversation, such as “base . . . connect with John”. The base systemmay establish communication between the first user and “John,” thesecond user, such that neither the party that the first user isconversing with, nor the gaming console that John may be interactingwith, receives any signals corresponding to the conversation between thefirst user and John that follows voice-command 306. That conversationmay occur on communication path 308 established as a result ofvoice-command 306. The first user may speak another voice-command toterminate the sidebar conversation with John and resume normalconversation with the party.

With reference to FIG. 4, this figure depicts a block diagram of asecond type of command processing in a base system in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Base system 400 may be similar to base system300 in FIG. 3. Headset 402 may be a headset similar to headset 202 inFIG. 2, or a comparable device capable of sending and receiving voicecommunications. Communication device 404 and 406 may each be acommunication device similar to any of communication devices 206-214 inFIG. 2.

A user of headset 402 may be able to issue voice-commands to thecommunication base system. For example, a user may be able to instructbase system 400 using voice-command 408 to connect the user's headsetwith communication device 404, which may be the user's cell phone, aswell as communication device 406, which may be the user's desk phone.Base system 400 may then establish communication path 410 so the usermay be able to switch between the two conversations on those twocommunication devices. As another example of using the illustrativeembodiment in this figure, the user may instruct base system 400 usingvoice-command 408 to connect headset 402 to the user's mobile phone aswell as the user's computer. Base system 400 may then establishcommunication path 410 so that the user may interact with a VOIPapplication on the computer as well as have a voice conversation on theuser's mobile phone. As another example, the user may be able to usevoice-command 408 to cause base system 400 to perform certain basesystem operations, such as by using local applications 220 in FIG. 2.Examples of base system operations may be increasing the volume of acall, placing a call on hold, squelching the noise on a call, or anyother function a particular base system may be able to support.

With reference to FIG. 5, this figure depicts a block diagram of a thirdtype of command processing in a base system in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Base system 500 may be similar to base system400 in FIG. 4. Headset 502 and 504 may each be a headset similar toheadset 202 in FIG. 2, or a comparable device capable of sending andreceiving voice communications. Communication device 506 may be acommunication device similar to any of communication devices 206-214 inFIG. 2.

A user of headset 502 may be able to issue voice-commands to base system500. For example, a user may be able to instruct base system 500 usingvoice-command 508 to connect headset 502 into a conversation thatheadset 504 may be having using communication device 506, which may bethe user's cell phone. Base system 500 may then establish communicationpath 510 so the users of headset 502 and 504 may both be able to jointlycommunicate with communication device 506.

A user of headset 502 may also be able to issue voice-command 508 tocommunication device 506 accessible through base system 500. Forexample, a user may be able to instruct base system 500 usingvoice-command 508 to pass-through the subsequent voice commands. Anexample of such a voice-command process may include a user speaking,“Base . . . pass to mobile phone,” followed by “phonebook.” Base system500 would then pass the speech pattern of the user saying “phonebook” tocommunication device 506, the user's mobile phone, which may also betrained to recognize some voice-commands. Upon receiving the “phonebook”voice-command, the mobile phone may display the list of contacts storedon the mobile phone to the user. As another example, the user may speak,“Base . . . pass to computer,” followed by “launch Word,” prompting theuser's computer to launch the Microsoft™ Word® application.

A user of a headset may also be able to issue voice-commands to the basesystem and have the base system invoke a corresponding operation on thebase system, one or more communication devices, or any combinationthereof. For example, in the above example of launching the Microsoft™Word® application on a computer, the user may speak “launch Word”voice-command. The base system may launch the application on thecomputer using an application programming interface (API) or otherinteroperability methodology. As another example, a voice-command from aheadset to a base system may result in a web-service, an API, or aremote procedure call (RPC) being invoked on a communication device or anetwork by the base system.

With reference to FIG. 6, this figure depicts a block diagram of afourth type of command processing in a base system in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Base system 600 may be similar to base system500 in FIG. 5. Headset 602 may be a headset similar to headset 202 inFIG. 2, or a comparable device capable of sending and receiving voicecommunications.

A user of headset 602 may be able to trigger an operation on base system600 using voice-command 604. For example, a user may be able to speak avoice-command “notify John 1234” to cause base system 600 to send anotification, such as an email, page, phone, fax, or any other kind ofnotification, to a user John with the code “1234”. Of course, particularimplementations may use an actual notification message instead of acode, or use other words, text, or codes instead of the exemplary codeused here without departing from the scope of the illustrativeembodiments.

A user of a headset may also be able to configure the base system usingvoice-commands. For example, the user may be able to speak voicecommands, such as “call linking” to enable a feature in the base systemthat may allow a second headset to link into a call in progress using afirst headset. FIG. 5 and the corresponding description above describethe call linking operation. As another example, a user using a firstheadset may be engaged in a game on a gaming console via the basesystem. A second user may similarly link into the same game by speakingvoice-commands in a similar manner.

With reference to FIG. 7, this figure depicts a flowchart of a processof processing voice-commands in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment. Process 700 may be implemented in base system 200 in FIG. 2.

Process 700 begins by establishing a communication path for voicecommunication, to carry speech as well as voice-commands (step 702). Thecommunication path may be a wired or wireless connection. Speech is thesound of voice conversations. Speech pattern is a segment of the speechthat has specific characteristics, such as those associated with thesound when specific words are spoken. The process processes the speech(step 704). Speech processing may be accomplished using manytechnologies, including digital signal processing. Processing engine,such as in command processing component 222 in FIG. 2, may employ suchtechnologies to process speech.

The process identifies a speech pattern as including a voice-command(step 706). The process may identify the speech pattern in any suitableway, including, by identifying address words, such as “Base . . . ” asexplained in the examples above. The process then separates a portion ofthe speech pattern as being the voice-command (step 708). For example,“connect to mobile phone” portion of the speech pattern “Base . . .connect to mobile phone” may be the voice-command portion.

The process then compares the separated portion of the speech patternwith training speech patterns (step 710). For example, a user may trainthe base system with several variations of his or her speech patternsfor certain commands. Such training speech patterns may be used by theprocess for the comparison in step 710. Of course, other sources oftraining speech patterns, such as standard speech pattern databases mayalso be used.

The process then determines if the separated portion of the speechpattern matches or closely resembles any of the training speech patterns(step 712). A resemblance is close if the separated speech pattern andthe training speech patterns resemble each other within a presetthreshold. If the process determines that the separated portion of thespeech pattern matches or closely resembles a training speech pattern(“Yes” path of step 712), the process accepts the separated portion ofspeech pattern as a voice-command (step 714). The process thendetermines an operation that corresponds with that voice-command (step716). For example, a database may store a list of operations correlatedwith specific voice-commands. The process performs the operation thatcorresponds with the voice-command (step 718). The process endsthereafter.

If, however, the process determines that the separated portion of thespeech pattern does not match or closely resemble any training speechpatterns, the process rejects the speech pattern, or determines that thespeech pattern is not a voice-command (step 720). The process endsthereafter. In an implementation of the process, the process may returnto step 702 after steps 718 and 720.

The components and the operations described above are exemplary and notintended to be limited to the illustrative embodiments. The depictionand description have been selected to explain the operation of the basesystem in accordance with the illustrative embodiments. Many othercomponents and operations thereof will be conceivable in particularimplementations of the illustrative embodiments.

Furthermore, the voice-commands described in the illustrativeembodiments above are only exemplary. Many other voice-commands may beconceived to similar features, functions, and operations. Furthermore,the above illustrative embodiments utilize headsets only for clarity.Any other device capable of voice communication, whether wired orwireless, may be used without departing from the scope of theillustrative embodiments. The communication devices described in theabove illustrative embodiments are also exemplary. Any equipment,component, machinery, system, or apparatus usable with a headset orsimilar device may be operated in the manner described above.

Thus, the illustrative embodiments provide a communication base systemand methods of using that base system for enabling communication andinteractions between one or more headsets and several communicationdevices. The illustrative embodiments enable these communication andinteractions without associating or disassociating a headset with eachcommunication device. The illustrative embodiments allow severalheadsets and several communication devices to communicate with eachother simultaneously without the limitation ofone-headset-to-one-communication-device association as is presentlyrequired.

The illustrative embodiments further allow users to perform operationson the base system and communication devices using voice-commands. Userscan configure the headsets and the base system so that the user mayspeak commands corresponding to operations they would like performed.The illustrative embodiments provide exemplary voice-commands andoperations for sidebar conversation between headsets, linking multipleheadsets to a common call, and connecting several calls to a headset forswitching. The illustrative embodiments may be implemented according tothe above description for providing voice-command interface tocommunication devices and applications on communication devices that mayotherwise not be voice-command enabled.

The illustrative embodiments can take the form of an entirely hardwareembodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containingboth hardware and software elements. Furthermore, the illustrativeembodiments can take the form of a computer program product accessiblefrom a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing programcode for use by or in connection with a computer or any instructionexecution system. For the purposes of this description, acomputer-usable or computer-readable medium can be any tangibleapparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transportthe program for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device.

The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or apropagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include asemiconductor or solid-state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computerdiskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), arigid magnetic disk and an optical disk Current examples of opticaldisks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compactdisk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

Further, a computer storage medium may contain or store acomputer-readable program code such that when the computer-readableprogram code is executed on a computer, the execution of thiscomputer-readable program code causes the computer to transmit anothercomputer-readable program code over a communication link. Thiscommunication link may use a medium that is, for example withoutlimitation, physical or wireless.

The above description has been presented for purposes of illustrationand description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to theillustrative embodiments in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for controlling devices and applicationsusing voice-commands and DTMF signals, the method comprising:establishing a first communication path between a first communicationdevice and a base station; establishing a second communication pathbetween the first communication device and a second communication devicevia the base station; relaying a verbal communication between the firstcommunication device and the second communication device via the basestation; identifying, by the base station, during the communicationbetween the first communication device and the second communicationdevice, a speech pattern from a user of the first communication deviceas including a voice-command; determining, by the base station, a firstoperation corresponding to the voice-command portion of the speechpattern; performing, by the base station, the first operationcorresponding to the voice-command portion of the speech pattern;identifying, by the base station, a DTMF signal input from the firstcommunication device during the communications between the firstcommunication device and the second communication device; determining,by the base station, a second operation corresponding to the DTMFsignal; and performing, by the base station, the second operationcorresponding to the DTMF signal.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thevoice command includes a verbal description of the first operation. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the voice command includes a codeidentifying the first operation.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst operation for the voice command of the user differs from anoperation for the voice command of a second user.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein performing the first or second operation establishes a secondcommunication path between the user that sent the voice-command and athird communication device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstor second operation is forwarding the verbal communication to one ormore communications devices.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstor second operation is sending a notification to another user.
 8. A basestation storing computer executable instructions on a non-transitorystorage medium, said instructions for controlling devices andapplications using voice-commands that, when said instructions areexecuted, cause the base station to: establish a first communicationpath directly between a first communication device and a base station;establish a second communication path between the first communicationdevice and a second communication device via the base station; relay averbal communication between the first communication device and thesecond communication device via the base station; identify during thecommunications between the first communication device and the secondcommunication device, a speech pattern from a user of the firstcommunication device as including a voice-command; determine a firstoperation corresponding to the voice-command portion of the speechpattern; perform the first operation corresponding to the voice-commandportion of the speech pattern; identify a DTMF signal input from thefirst communication device during the communications between the firstcommunication device and the second communication device; determine asecond operation corresponding to the DTMF signal; and perform thesecond operation corresponding to the DTMF signal.
 9. The base stationof claim 8, wherein the voice command includes a verbal description ofthe first operation.
 10. The base station of claim 8, wherein the voicecommand includes a code identifying the first operation.
 11. The basestation of claim 8, wherein instructions causing the base station toperform the operation include communicating instructions to perform theoperation on a remote device.
 12. The base station of claim 8, whereinthe first or second operation forwards the voice-command to a remotedevice.
 13. The base station of claim 8, wherein the first or secondoperation is sending a notification to another user.
 14. A base stationfor controlling devices and applications using voice-commands and DTMFsignals, the base station comprising: a user-side interface coupled to afirst communication path and configured receive verbal communicationsand DTMF signals from a user, said verbal communications comprising inpart a voice-command from the user; and a processing engine incommunication with the user-side interface through the firstcommunication path, said processing engine being configured to;establish a first communication path directly between a firstcommunication device and the base station; establish a secondcommunication path between the first communication device and a secondcommunication device coupled to a network side interface via the basestation; relay a verbal communication between the first communicationdevice and the second communication device via the base station;identify during the communications between the first communicationdevice and the second communication device, a speech pattern from a userof the first communication device as including a voice-command;determine a first operation corresponding to the voice-command portionof the speech pattern; perform the first operation corresponding to thevoice-command portion of the speech pattern; identify a DTMF signalinput from the first communication device during the communicationsbetween the first communication device and the second communicationdevice; determine a second operation corresponding to the DTMF signal;and perform the second operation corresponding to the DTMF signal. 15.The base station of claim 14, wherein the voice command includes averbal description of the first operation.
 16. The base station of claim14, wherein the voice command includes a code identifying the firstoperation.
 17. The base station of claim 14, wherein performance of thefirst or second operation include performance of the first or second ona remote device.
 18. The base station of claim 14, wherein the first orsecond operation forwards the voice-command to a remote device.
 19. Thebase station of claim 14, wherein the user-side interface receives thevoice-command during the communication.
 20. The base station of claim14, wherein the second communication path enables a plurality ofheadsets to communicate with each other.